THE RIGHT to KNOW, the RIGHT to ACT Documents of Helsinki Dissent from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Compiled and Edited B
THE RIGHT TO KNOW, THE RIGHT TO ACT Documents of Helsinki Dissent from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Compiled and Edited by the Staff of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe Washington, D.C. May, 1978 DANTE B. FASCELL EXECUIVE BRON CMMISSIONRI CHAIRMAN PATRICIA M. DERIAN DAVID E. McGIFFERr CLAIBORNE PELL FRANK A. WEIL CO-C14AIIIIIMAN COMMISSION ON COMMISSIONERS SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE R.SPENCER OLIVER DICK CLARK AFE REDY R PATRICK J. LEAHY CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES ALFREDFRIEDLY.JR. RICHARD STONE WASHINGTON, D.C. 205151STA DIRETtO CUFDORD P. CAES ROBERTI DOLE Houms OPWMEkoBSAWiN. Ajolfg 2 JONATHAN B. BINGHAM PAULSIMON (202) 225-1901 SIDNEY R. YATES JOHN BUCHANAN MILAJCENT VNWICK FOREWORD The documents presented in this volume are links in a chain reaction of free expression. Taking place inside the Sov4et Union and its Eastern Euro- pean allies, this process of civil protest varies from one locale to another both in scope and content. Its common base, however, can be found in the 1975 Helsinki accord, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Coop- eration in Europe. There, in the introductory Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between Participating States, the 35 signatory nations bound themselves to accord the same respect to the human rights and fundamental freedoms of their own citizens as to one another's frontiers, sovereignty, and immunity from force or the threat of its use. The pledge to respect "freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief," to "promote and encourage the effective exercise of civil, political ... cultural and other rights", to accord ethnic minorities "equality before the law" and "full opportunity", and to "act in conformity" with international commitments on human rights constitutes Principle VII of the Final Act.
[Show full text]